Gafori
addresses his book in a dialogue, and vows that it shall never come home
again if Grolier refuses to be the patron. A poetical friend adds a piece
in which the Muses appear without their proper emblems, and even Apollo
is bereft of his lyre. Gafori, they say, has taken away their harmonies
and will not give them back. They are advised to make their way to the
concert at Grolier's house, where the friend of the Muses sits among the
learned doctors. An illustration shows Gafori sitting at his organ and
the musicians with their wind-instruments at the end of the lofty hall.
Gafori himself, in another preface, declares that his musical offspring
can hardly be kept at home; they used to be too shy to go out, though all
the musicians were awaiting them; now that they have Grolier's patronage
they are all as bold as brass, and ready to rush through any danger to
salute their generous friend. The history of the copy presented to
Grolier is not without interest. After the great musician's death the
treasurer gave it to Albisse, one of the King's secretaries: Albisse in
1546 gave it to Rasse de Neux, a surgeon at Paris, who was devoted to
curious books; in 1674 it entered the library of St. Germain-des-Pres,
and was nearly destroyed more than a century afterwards in a great fire.
During the Revolution it was added to the collection at the Convent des
Celestins, and was afterwards deposited in the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal,
where we suppose that it still remains.
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